Florida Star RB Jadan Baugh Had Words for Jon Sumrall After Loss to Mizzou

Nothing seemed to go right for the Florida Gators in Week 5 as the team crumbled to the Missouri Tigers in a 45-17 loss in Columbia.

The proclivity to penalties and issues in the secondary had been there all season for the Gators, but it caught up to them in a big way on the road against Missouri.

What had been working for Florida all year was the rushing attack. Jadan Baugh entered the game second in the NCAA in rushing (behind Duke running back Nate Sheppard) with 600 yards and 11 touchdowns. Baugh was expected to be a linchpin for the Gators offense on Saturday.

However, the Tigers shut down any running lanes for Baugh, keeping him to 13 yards on 12 carries. The lack of a rushing attack hurt quarterback Aaron Philo's chance to be effective in the passing game. 

Per Mark Schlabach of ESPN, Baugh had words for Gators head coach Jon Sumrall after the game, texting the coach an apology for his performance against Mizzou and committing to be better moving forward.

"I'm sorry, coach. I won't let that happen again. I didn't play my best," he texted.

On Monday, Sumrall said he loved Baugh because the running back "owned" what happened and readied himself for his next chance to prove himself.

Sumrall noted that early in the season, Baugh has created runs on his own, even when the offensive line has not created plays for him. He argued that the offense “didn't do enough to help him" against Mizzou, but also didn't think Baugh was at his best running the football.

As we've seen the last two weeks, Florida will live and die by how it runs the football. 

When Florida defeated Ole Miss 52-28 in Week 4, the Gators rushed for 302 yards and six touchdowns. Baugh led the Gators with 142 yards and three scores. Duke Clark rushed 12 times for 126 yards and one touchdown.

UF as a whole rushed for 42 yards on 25 carries against the Tigers. Clearly, Baugh wasn't the only ball carrier to struggle against Missouri.

Florida will need its offensive line to play much better in the next few weeks. After hosting South Carolina on Saturday, the Gators will travel to play No. 1 Texas on Oct. 17 and then have a date with rival No. 2 Georgia on Halloween. 

Baugh will be the key to getting wins in those games. It would be ideal if the offensive line can help him out more than they did against Missouri.